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Goldman, Deutsche and JPMorgan are actively seeking to recruit people with autism amid the struggle to lure tech workers
Since Jonathan Andrews was diagnosed with autism at age nine, he says he has faced many negative stereotypes and people with “outdated or inaccurate views” of his condition. Despite that, last year, Andrews landed a training contract at City law firm Reed Smith.
His employer is one of a number of companies who are not only open to hiring people with autism, they are actively seeking these people out, partly because of the view they excel at certain tasks.
“My condition gives me a very good memory and good attention to detail. If it is a topic I’m interested in, I will go all out on it,” he said.
Goldman Sachs, Deutsche Bank, JPMorgan, Linklaters and EY have all recently made moves to appeal to employees who are on the autistic spectrum. They are following similar efforts from big tech companies like Microsoft, Vodafone, SAP and Hewlett-Packard.
James Mahoney, head of JPMorgan’s Autism at Work programme, was first approached by an autism charity three years ago about employing autistic people in quality assurance roles. He was initially keen but a little sceptical. Six months later, he was surprised to find that his 10 autistic employees were around 48% faster at completing quality assurance tasks.
“I started seeing it as [adding] business value,” he said.
JPMorgan now employs 86 autistic people globally. Mahoney says one reason for the interest is the increased demand for technology staff. Banks are competing with Silicon Valley and fintech startups for top talent in this area.
“The acceleration of tech and disruptive technologies is creating a growing demand in the job market. That is a big driver. Companies must look in different places for talent.”
Just 16% of autistic adults are in full time work in the UK, according to the National Autistic Society. But some employers are changing the way they work to help autistic staff to be productive. For instance, because many autistic people find they are more sensitive to sounds, light or temperatures, some firms offer noise-cancelling headsets or allow employees to work in quieter parts of the office.
Others offer ongoing support for their autistic employees. Linklaters working through autism-focused social enterprise Auticon will ensure that its autistic consultants have access to a “job coach” to help them navigate any physical or social challenges they encounter in the workplace.
Companies are also tailoring how they recruit in order to cater to the needs of these candidates. JPMorgan does not conduct panel interviews with autistic candidates, and interviewers are trained not to ask candidates speculative questions.
Deutsche Bank, meanwhile, requires interns to go through two rounds of interviews with between three to six interviewers at each panel. But on its internship programme for autistic people, which launched in London in 2016, candidates can first answer a selection of questions in writing before an interview with just one or two interviewers.
Five of Deutsche Bank’s autistic interns were made permanent employees last year.
Right now, many of the roles that banks are hiring autistic people for are in back office functions. A Deutsche Bank spokesman said that in the first year of their internship programme, it was only open to back office roles such as in market infrastructure groups. The programme has now been extended to all departments, though so far the bank has not hired any autistic people into front office roles through the programme.
Kirsty Wilson, a job coach at Auticon, thinks no jobs should be off limits to people with autism but that employees do need to have proper support, particularly when it comes to situations that might require individuals to understand “unwritten rules” and where “instructions are not explicit”.
Managers and the teams they work with also need training on what to expect from their autistic colleagues.
Koral Anderson, a managing director at Deutsche Bank, said the bank held training sessions for colleagues on autism.
But even with training, having a colleague that looks at the world differently can be a learning process for everyone. One intern kept declining his team’s Thursday night drinks invitation as he did not drink alcohol. Anderson said: “Whereas one of our other members of staff would have interpreted [the offer] and said ‘Well, I can go to the pub and have something else?’, the intern took it as a literal request.”
David Perkins, director of AS Mentoring, has trained Goldman Sachs employees on what to expect from their autistic colleagues. He says he used to regularly get calls from the bank asking him to mediate between managers and autistic employees over miscommunications. These days, the firm has become used to what to expect, and he rarely gets called.
“It used to be in the early days the company would be thrown by the way some reacted,” said Perkins. “But after a few years they got used to autism and the way it manifests.”
Wilson of Auticon agreed that it is many of the small social aspects of the office that can be particularly challenging for autistic employees, such as tea rounds, birthdays or meeting etiquette. But colleagues do not need to drastically change their behaviour, she said. “It’s just about being mindful and aware.”
James Neeley, who is a physics graduate and was diagnosed with autism at the age of 31, was one such person who found himself unemployed after working in data analysis for eight years. He found that sensory overload, such as harsh lighting and colleagues talking on their mobiles or rustling crisp packets, as well as a long commute, were driving him “insane” and made his previous job untenable. It took him two years to find a new position.
His new employer, which was found through Auticon, has made accommodations that mean Neeley can work comfortably. He sometimes wears a cap in the office to protect him from harsh lighting and also works at home more than he goes into the office. Getting back to work has been a big confidence boost for Neeley.
“It is a huge relief to go back to work and show that I can contribute with a few tweaks,” he said.
Related: The benefits of autism in the office
Source: Banks wake up to benefits of hiring autistic people
Goldman, Deutsche and JPMorgan are actively seeking to recruit people with autism amid the struggle to lure tech workers
Since Jonathan Andrews was diagnosed with autism at age nine, he says he has faced many negative stereotypes and people with “outdated or inaccurate views” of his condition. Despite that, last year, Andrews landed a training contract at City law firm Reed Smith.
His employer is one of a number of companies who are not only open to hiring people with autism, they are actively seeking these people out, partly because of the view they excel at certain tasks.
“My condition gives me a very good memory and good attention to detail. If it is a topic I’m interested in, I will go all out on it,” he said.
Goldman Sachs, Deutsche Bank, JPMorgan, Linklaters and EY have all recently made moves to appeal to employees who are on the autistic spectrum. They are following similar efforts from big tech companies like Microsoft, Vodafone, SAP and Hewlett-Packard.
James Mahoney, head of JPMorgan’s Autism at Work programme, was first approached by an autism charity three years ago about employing autistic people in quality assurance roles. He was initially keen but a little sceptical. Six months later, he was surprised to find that his 10 autistic employees were around 48% faster at completing quality assurance tasks.
“I started seeing it as [adding] business value,” he said.
JPMorgan now employs 86 autistic people globally. Mahoney says one reason for the interest is the increased demand for technology staff. Banks are competing with Silicon Valley and fintech startups for top talent in this area.
“The acceleration of tech and disruptive technologies is creating a growing demand in the job market. That is a big driver. Companies must look in different places for talent.”
Just 16% of autistic adults are in full time work in the UK, according to the National Autistic Society. But some employers are changing the way they work to help autistic staff to be productive. For instance, because many autistic people find they are more sensitive to sounds, light or temperatures, some firms offer noise-cancelling headsets or allow employees to work in quieter parts of the office.
Others offer ongoing support for their autistic employees. Linklaters working through autism-focused social enterprise Auticon will ensure that its autistic consultants have access to a “job coach” to help them navigate any physical or social challenges they encounter in the workplace.
Companies are also tailoring how they recruit in order to cater to the needs of these candidates. JPMorgan does not conduct panel interviews with autistic candidates, and interviewers are trained not to ask candidates speculative questions.
Deutsche Bank, meanwhile, requires interns to go through two rounds of interviews with between three to six interviewers at each panel. But on its internship programme for autistic people, which launched in London in 2016, candidates can first answer a selection of questions in writing before an interview with just one or two interviewers.
Five of Deutsche Bank’s autistic interns were made permanent employees last year.
Right now, many of the roles that banks are hiring autistic people for are in back office functions. A Deutsche Bank spokesman said that in the first year of their internship programme, it was only open to back office roles such as in market infrastructure groups. The programme has now been extended to all departments, though so far the bank has not hired any autistic people into front office roles through the programme.
Kirsty Wilson, a job coach at Auticon, thinks no jobs should be off limits to people with autism but that employees do need to have proper support, particularly when it comes to situations that might require individuals to understand “unwritten rules” and where “instructions are not explicit”.
Managers and the teams they work with also need training on what to expect from their autistic colleagues.
Koral Anderson, a managing director at Deutsche Bank, said the bank held training sessions for colleagues on autism.
But even with training, having a colleague that looks at the world differently can be a learning process for everyone. One intern kept declining his team’s Thursday night drinks invitation as he did not drink alcohol. Anderson said: “Whereas one of our other members of staff would have interpreted [the offer] and said ‘Well, I can go to the pub and have something else?’, the intern took it as a literal request.”
David Perkins, director of AS Mentoring, has trained Goldman Sachs employees on what to expect from their autistic colleagues. He says he used to regularly get calls from the bank asking him to mediate between managers and autistic employees over miscommunications. These days, the firm has become used to what to expect, and he rarely gets called.
“It used to be in the early days the company would be thrown by the way some reacted,” said Perkins. “But after a few years they got used to autism and the way it manifests.”
Wilson of Auticon agreed that it is many of the small social aspects of the office that can be particularly challenging for autistic employees, such as tea rounds, birthdays or meeting etiquette. But colleagues do not need to drastically change their behaviour, she said. “It’s just about being mindful and aware.”
James Neeley, who is a physics graduate and was diagnosed with autism at the age of 31, was one such person who found himself unemployed after working in data analysis for eight years. He found that sensory overload, such as harsh lighting and colleagues talking on their mobiles or rustling crisp packets, as well as a long commute, were driving him “insane” and made his previous job untenable. It took him two years to find a new position.
His new employer, which was found through Auticon, has made accommodations that mean Neeley can work comfortably. He sometimes wears a cap in the office to protect him from harsh lighting and also works at home more than he goes into the office. Getting back to work has been a big confidence boost for Neeley.
“It is a huge relief to go back to work and show that I can contribute with a few tweaks,” he said.
Related: The benefits of autism in the office
Source: Banks wake up to benefits of hiring autistic people
